Thursday, 27 February 2014

If your writing is treated as a business, do you draw up business plans and goals every year? I do. I decide on how many books I want to have finished and plot out a time frame that includes editing and revisions and any deadlines of publishers I have to meet. And every January I brim over with enthusiasm and positive vibes, certain I can meet these commitments.

In a perfect world, I’d probably meet all those goals and commitments.

But life usually intervenes somewhere along the line, given like many, I have a family and a full time ‘other’ job. Of course that also doesn’t include the times when the creative well is bone dry.

I love writing, I don’t want it to turn into something I feel I have to do but how does a writer maintain that new year enthusiasm and motivation when faced with the grind of day-to-day living? And sometimes it is hard. And tough. And sometimes its fraught with difficult situations and events that hit you in the face like a tonne of bricks.

It’s hard to continually keep the magic in your voice and words when its 1.00am and you’re still staring at the screen and have to get up in four hours to begin another day. Or when you’re emotionally exhausted from dealing with daily challenges like your water meter springs a leak and gushes a whole dams worth of water down the road and the Water Board says ‘not my problem’ and the plumber says ‘ring the water board’. You get my drift.

Here’s a few tips and tricks I use that help me:

* Take a hard look at those shiny New Year goals and decide whether I’d been under the influence of Xmas punch when I wrote them. In other words, are these goals realistic?

* Revisit and revise my goals on a monthly or quarterly basis. Am I behind, can I catch up, what can I do to meet that deadline? Or better so I don’t have a heart attack, can I revise that deadline?

* Visualise my achievements at the end of the year and that nice ‘I did it!’ glow to revitalise flagging motivation.

* Re-read my current ms from the beginning – this can help me to re-vitalise my enthusiasm for the story, especially if events have forced me away from writing for a few days or (gasp) a week!

* Revisit my GMC’s and backstories for my characters. Are they too bland? Too predictable? What can I add or change to bring that sparkle back into my work and stop me nodding off at my study desk?

* Also if I’m stuck and another scene from further in the story pops into my head, I’ll write that scene and come back to where I was later on. (Writing longhand is also another trick, I understand it utilises a different section of your brain and I know, it sure helps me when I’m dithering at the keyboard.)

* Squeeze in an hour or two for another passion – mine is bushwalking. The fresh air, pounding the bush track, breathing in the scents of our bush help clear my head, helps beat off any mild depression and I often come up with a solution to a writing problem along the way.

* Meet with other writers and brainstorm if you’re stuck and feel like you may as well paper your walls with your ms.

* I find music to be a wonderful source of creativity.

* Fill your creative well; take a break, see friends, a movie, listen to music, stroll along the beach, have a coffee shop date and mingle, keep active and watch your inner health by making good food choices. I’m a big believer in a sluggish body makes a sluggish brain and junk food makes me want to curl up and have a nap so I avoid it.

* Mostly, I remember why I chose to write in the first place – for the love of it.

What works for you? What helps you to snap the magic into your words?

I’m currently working on the next book in my sci fi series and would like to leave you with the blurb of my current release, Star Pirate’s Justice.

BLURB: Carly has one focus in her life: to return home to her terminally ill younger sister. When she learns that a Darkon traitor possesses gateway maps to Earth, she uses all her skills to track him down. But capturing the charming star pirate turns out to be trickier than she anticipated…

Volkar is determined to prove his innocence to those who drove him to a life lived on the Outer Rim, and he will overcome anyone who gets in his way. But his surprisingly sweet captor has some skills that will come in handy, so he strikes a deal: the maps for her help. Neither expect their partnership to turn into more, but as dark secrets are revealed, their lives become forfeit — and the relationship blossoming between them nothing but a starburst of happiness in the deep shadow of the sky…

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

This fortnight, it is my pleasure to welcome Stacey Nash, with a bite of her latest release,Forget Me Not.

Can you, in less than five words describe your book/storyForget Me Not?
Adventure, intrigue, action, romance, technology Who is your favourite character in this book?
The love interest, Jax. He’s a smart mouthed teen with a bit of attitude, and a lot of secrets. I always pictured him as a teenage Chase Crawford.

What inspired you to write it?
I’ve always been fascinated by conspiracy theories and Forget Me Not is like a whole bunch of them rolled in together with a science fiction and secret society explanation.

And here's the snippet!
“I’ve got a couple of youngsters in need of your help,” Al says to the back of a tattered, old armchair. Light blue fabric peeks out between numerous patches.

The chair spins on its base, and a man whose skin matches his milk chocolate eyes scans me. He wears long shorts which dangle over his bent knees and an oversized yellow, green, and red striped shirt. They’re paired with sandals and a knitted, striped beanie. He offers his hand in greeting. “Beau Fairsmith’s the name.”

I wait a moment too long before shaking his hand. He’s such a contradictory ensemble, I’m lost for words. “Ah…” I finally say. “Anamae Gilbert and William Avery.”

The blond newsreader’s voice changes tone, and my attention darts to the ancient television in the corner. “A tragedy occurred today when a man in his early thirties plummeted from the top of an office building to his death. Details on hand are sketchy, but police have issued these surveillance pictures showing a young man and woman at the scene. Anyone with information regarding these two suspects should notify the police immediately. The suspects should not be approached, as they are considered armed and dangerous.”

A pencil sketch of a moonlike face with round eyes and a small dimple just off-center of the left cheek pops up on the screen. Oh my God, it’s Will. There’s no mistaking it. A phone number flashes underneath, and an uncanny likeness of me follows.

My mouth forms the shape to exclaim ‘what,’ but the word stalls on my lips. Someone’s dead, and they think we did it. The guy who attacked me, did they find his body? Surely they couldn’t link him to me, and Will wasn’t even there. It doesn’t make any sense.

“Ya got him!” Al claps me on the shoulder, and I blink at him.

Will’s brows knit together. The same look he gets when he’s put an engine back together and there’s a part left over.

“We didn’t kill anyone. He came after me, he tried to hurt me. We weren’t even near an office building.” I can hear the crack in my voice and know I’m verging on hysterical. Breathe, Mae, breathe.

Beau points a chunky remote at the television, and it fades to a black screen. “Ahh, I bet you two have something not quite normal. Perhaps odd things happen when you use it in a certain way. The sort of thing some people might call magic.” The end of his sentence raises like it’s a question. He looks at us with expectant, wide eyes.

My hand darts to the pendant under my shirt and pins it to my chest. I exchange a troubled glance with Will.

“Magic? Yeah, maybe,” he says.

“They have a cover-up. Dimwits used it twice in broad daylight and brought themselves to the attention of The Collective.” Al rubs his brow.

Beau pulls himself up out of the old armchair, suddenly more alert. “The Collective will sacrifice everything to ensure this type of knowledge is not in the hands of the public. You are incredibly lucky or clever to be unharmed.”

The Collective. That’s what Al said, too. I glance at Will sideways. His mouth hangs slightly open, his eyes wide. He looks as astonished as I feel. Beau’s gaze shifts beyond me, and his face lights up in a smile. When I look over my shoulder, I see Bertie standing in the doorway, waving. She smiles and continues past the room; obviously she and Al are well known around here.

“When tech is used, an alarm is activated, alerting The Collective,” Beau continues. “If the use is unauthorized, they send a scout to appropriate the tech and contain any knowledge of its existence.”

The man in the East Coast Gas uniform, he must have been a scout.

“What do you mean?” Will asks.

Beau rubs his forehead. “Technology, tools, machines, items which perform a specific function. Some tech is common, like cellphones, computers, and satellite tracking, but other tech is not known or used at all. The Collective works hard to keep its knowledge hidden from the general population.”

I shake my head. “I should have known it wasn’t magic.”

The blue flower on the pendant made me appear invisible. Not magic, but technology. My hand still clutches it protectively. How does it work? It has to be some trick with light. I’ve always hated science; I spend most of class daydreaming of being outside with Will and my camera, soaking up his contagious happiness.

Beau’s voice breaks my thoughts. “We also have an alarm. We use it to intercept Collective agents and stop them from harming innocent people. The radar pinpoints the location of the use of tech.”

The boy, the one in the leather jacket. My gaze darts back to the window and the tree branches reaching over the lawn, but I can’t see him. He must have been sent to intercept the gas man.

“This is a safe house. The Collective can’t reach it. You’ll have to stay here while we secure your safety,” Beau says.

“A safe house?” Will asks.

My mind spins again. It’s doing a lot of that this afternoon. There’s so much to take in. This morning we played a dumb game, and now we’re here in the middle of ‘great danger’.

“There are several of them across the country, and each house has a number of people. We will give you assistance.”

My mind whirls. Scouts, collective, safe houses. It’s too much to take in. I move toward an armchair identical to Beau’s, place my hands on its soft, well-worn arms, and sink into it.

“I can’t stay here. My dad, I need to go home to him,” I say. “After Mom, he won’t cope if I disappear, too. He -- he needs me. He doesn’t even have his mother anymore.” I hang my head in my hands, twining my fingers into my hair. He’s balanced so close to the edge of despair, and I won’t push him over.

“They’re relentless. They won’t give up until they find you,” Al says. He’s still here. I’d almost forgotten him. “It’s not safe. You can’t outrun them forever. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on your old man.”

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Welcome to this week's good news....coming to you this week by Nicole Murphy

COVERS

Leisl Leighton is showing off the cover to her release Dark Moon, coming out with Destiny Romance on March 15

Maree Anderson has a new book, Opal's Wish (Book 4 in the Crystal Warrior's series) coming out March 31.

Here's the blurb:

When the Crystal Guardian, Pieter, handed over the danburite crystal to eight-year-old Sera, he intended her mother be the one to release the cursed warrior from the crystal. But Sera’s heartfelt wish upon the crystal somehow frees Danbur from his prison. Worse, she bonds with him. Danbur now has no chance to break his curse, and despite all the magic at Pieter’s command, this is a mess he has no idea how to resolve.

Danbur is entranced by the little girl. In the weeks remaining before the crystal takes him again he resolves to protect her— even if it means clashing with her mother, Opal, a damaged young woman who doesn’t trust any man… let alone a warrior struggling to make sense of an alien world. Danbur is drawn to Opal, and if he had more time he would do his utmost to thaw a heart frozen by fear of pain and betrayal. But his priority must be helping her young daughter cope with the side-effects of the bond.

Resisting this complex, compelling stranger is taking all the willpower Opal possesses. And then her past catches up with her, catapulting her back into the media spotlight and bringing her to the attention of the powerful man who once ruined her life. With Sera in jeopardy, Opal is forced to turn to Danbur, the man she can’t bring herself to fully trust. All she can do is hope his claims about his mysterious ‘connection’ to Sera aren’t the stuff of fantasy after all. But what Opal doesn’t realize is that the clock is ticking. And Danbur’s time is about to run out.

Elizabeth Dunk has signed with Escape Publishing for the publication of her collection Release. Release is made up of four paranormal erotica novellas. It's due for release in June.

Here's the blurb:

Cursed after death to live in a grey nothingness until they atone for their sins, four
spirits have spent centuries doing good for others. Finally they stumble upon
the true key to their salvation – because they hurt women in their real lives,
they’ll only find release by now helping women to become all they should be.
One by one, the spirits meet a woman and as sexual delights unfurl, the women
find their happily ever after and the grey nothingness dissapears, allowing the
spirits to find contenment for the rest of eternity.

Meet four remarkable women – Luisa, Anna, Cara and Jan – and the four spirits that
set them on a new destiny of sexual freedom and delight.

NEWS

Liliana Rose is the featured writer at Little Raven Press. There's a Q&A up on their site with her about writing erotic poetry.

Saturday, 22 February 2014

Claire Boston, writer of paranormal, fantasy and young adult, is sharing her inspiration behind her latest release, What Goes On Tour.

When I tell people who inspired the idea for What Goes on Tour I usually get a certain look – you know the one where people screw up their face as if to say, ‘Really?’

He’s not one who would usually come to mind if you consider traditional romance heroes. Who is he? Marilyn Manson.

Okay so maybe I should explain. I was watching one of those music video shows on TV and Marilyn Manson came on. He’s so distinctive with his dark hair, dark black lipstick, dark eyeliner and pale skin. It’s quite a fascinating combination and really sets a certain image in your mind. My immediate thought was what if he was the complete opposite of that image? Now, I know nothing about what Marilyn Manson is like as a person, nor did I try to find out anything about him. This first what if thought spiraled away from that image and got me thinking other what ifs. What if the persona was just a front, just a way of facing the world? What if in actual fact the person (I was now thinking in terms of my new character) was your typical boy next door, the type of person who would go out of his way to help a grandmother across the road? Or digging a little deeper, what if he actually hated being in the public eye but loved singing? At the end of this what if session, I had my hero, Adrian Hart.

So that was the inspiration for my latest novel, What Goes on Tour, but I’ve had inspiration for other novels from all sorts of places.

I get a lot of ideas from my dreams. I’m one of those people who dreams vividly and can remember them when I wake up. I keep a notebook and pen on my bedside table so that no matter what time I wake up I can reach over and jot down notes. Sometimes it will be pages where I try to get down the story I’ve dreamed and other times it’s just a character or a setting. My husband has become used to me turning on the light in the middle of the night to capture my ideas. J

Documentaries are also a good source for ideas. I got the whole plot for one of my fantasy novels from watching a documentary about the Great Wall of China. It was just a small snippet from the one hour show, but it generated a whole novel.

To capture all these ideas I have an ideas notebook. I used to write them in a paper notebook but I was a little paranoid about losing it so I now use Microsoft OneNote. It’s a program which usually comes with Microsoft Office and I love it. You can create sections (or tabs) and then have pages in each section. I have tabs for my romance ideas as well as my fantasy, paranormal and young adult ones. I also have tabs for settings and characters. Then each idea has its own page. Sometimes it’s as little as a job title or a two line description and other times its pages of plot.

My current work-in-progress came from a setting. It’s a coastal holiday town, set over the four day Easter weekend. As a child I used to go down there with a group of family friends and the story grew from that.

I believe inspiration is everywhere and I have a mouse pad next to my computer with the words, “I’m a writer. Anything you say or do may be used in a story.” For me, that’s the truth.

Claire Boston was a voracious reader as a child, devouring anything by Enid Blyton as well as series such as Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, The Baby-sitters Club and Sweet Valley High. Then one school holidays when she’d run out of books to read her mother handed her ‘Hot Ice’ by Nora Roberts and Claire instantly fell in love with romance novels.

The love of reading soon turned to a love of writing and she struggled to keep within the 1500 word limit set by her teachers for her creative writing assignments. When she finally decided to become serious about her stories she joined Romance Writers of Australia, found her wonderful critique group and hasn’t looked back.

When Claire’s not reading or writing she can be found in the garden attempting to grow vegetables, or racing around a vintage motocross track. If she can convince anyone to play with her, she also enjoys cards and board games.

Claire lives in Western Australia, just south of Perth with her husband, who loves even her most annoying quirks, and her two grubby, but adorable Australian bulldogs.

Friday, 21 February 2014

Welcome back for another month of what we are reading! Kresley Cole was a popular choice this month :)Nicolette HugoHighlander Romance: Boxed Set (Forbidden Fantasy) by Cathleen Ross which includes the latest story in the series called "Under her Highlander's Bed" - my favourite of the three stories. It is the best romp I have read in s long time - spot on in both humour and heat.

Kresley Cole's The Professional Part 1 - don't know why I didn't pick this up sooner. I wasn't so sure if the serial format was going to annoy me, but I am sucked in. Parts 2 and 3 are sitting on top of my TBR.

Demon Chained (Shadowfae Chronicles) by Erica Hayes. Zombies are not my usual "go to main character" but I just love Erica's style. She weaves such beautiful prose that you almost forget you are reading quite shocking things - its lyrical.

Currently reading Star Pirate's Justice by S E Gilchrist. I grew up watching Star Trek to watch Captain Kirk get it on so I am a sucker for a sci-fi romance and this one was a drool worthy misjudged alien lead male. Yum.

Thursday, 20 February 2014

In celebration of the release of The S.E.R.A. Files Volume II, I’m doing this week’s Magic Thursday post on a couple of the creatures from S.E.R.A. and how I put a twist in the myths surrounding them.

Vampires

We all know vampires have some form of reaction to sunlight, garlic and religious icons. I wanted to keep these familiar ideas, but change them so that my vampires are unique without having to sparkle.

The first thing I dealt with was the sunlight. It makes my vampires sleepy, but doesn’t weaken them or cause them to spontaneously combust. This has proved very hand for my heroines when it comes to making sure they vampire they love doesn’t get away.

The next was garlic. Who actually likes garlic in anything but their meals? Not that exciting, but I liked the idea my vampires could be affected by something so simple. So, I gave them each an allergy. For one, it’s flowers and for another it’s cats. Each vampire has a specific allergy and there’s lots of fun to be had in finding out what that is.

Spectres

I only have one and he’s making two appearances in S.E.R.A. Volume III, but I’ve really enjoyed playing around with what this guy can do! Spectres, as you know are usually insubstantial apparitions of those who’ve passed away and haunt a particular locale.

My spectre, whose name is Frost, is very deliciously substantial, but I wanted to give him the same sense of being able to appear at will in the same way that a ghost or apparition can. So I gave him the ability to ‘ghost’ to places (travel from one spot to another with simply a thought) that aren’t magically protected. This guy is more haunted than haunting – and he definitely resents the bad name his species has gotten from popular culture.

As you can gather from this brief snippet, I really enjoy playing with tropes, ideas, facts and stereotypes – it’s part of the joy of writing paranormal romance.

I’ll leave you with a question: If you were to ‘play’ with a creature of the night, what would it be… A big, husky werewolf, an elegant, deadly vampire or maybe a sexy fallen angel?

The S.E.R.A. Volume II

#1 SATISFYING SIMON

Will satisfaction be guaranteed?

How will Serena breach the emotional wall Simon has erected? Is Simon capable of trusting her after being betrayed in the past?

#2 PROTECTING PENELOPE

Angels and demons don’t mix. Prepare for an apocalypse.

Penelope’s enemy is getting closer. Can she convince Adar she loves him no matter what? Has Adar left it too late to have a future with the woman he loves?

#3 CATCHING FLAME

A fire prince always knows how to light a girl’s fire.

Things are heating up between Saskia and Flame. Will it lead to a love that will set the world on fire or is everything about to go up in smoke?

#4 TOUCHING TORREN

SERA Agent. Werewolf. Guard Dog. No one said anything about ‘walkies’.

Torren’s a wolf in dog’s clothing. When Sophy gets her sight back, will she still trust him to save her when her life is on the line?

#5 AFTER OBLIVION

Not even Hell itself is going to keep these lovers apart.

Oblivion wants two things: Mia and Aven back at his side and his enemy dead. Can he convince his lovers to return to him as he hunts a demonic drug lord?

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

coming to you this week by Nicole MurphyHoping you had a romantic Valentine's Day, and that the romance never stops!
RELEASES

This week sees a new release from Shona Husk - Lunar Reunion, an SF erotic romance from Ellora's Cave

Six years ago Filid made the mistake of falling for another officer in the Allied Planetary Military.

He walked away before they both did something they'd regret. Yet he can't get her out of his mind, even now.

Silva has never forgotten Filid, but he is the last person she expects to see on the pleasure resort of Decadent Moon. This time she won't let him walk away without exploring the fantasies she had about being with him.

Filid wants more than one night. And this time he is determined to hold onto her no matter the cost.

Thursday, 13 February 2014

When you talk to authors about their path to publication, there’s one thing they all have in common – they’re all different! I’ve been writing for almost eight years now and have written and rewritten seven novels (only five of which are fit for human consumption). On a whole it’s been a fun journey but there have been times when I’ve thought, why am I doing this, will I ever get published? At those times my critique group and other author friends have been invaluable support.

So how did I eventually get from the slush pile to the acceptance pile? I skipped the slush pile step.
For those of you who don’t know about how publishing works, the basics are this: There are few publishers who will accept unsolicited manuscripts. If they do, you send a query letter with details about your novel and it sits in their slush pile until an assistant has time to go through it and decide if it’s any good. If you haven’t captured their interest with your blurb or synopsis you’ll get a form rejection.
There are ways around this though and competitions are a good way. The final judge for most writing competitions is an agent or an editor. This means if you make the final you get straight in front of someone who can say yes or no to your manuscript (and they have to read it to judge it!) What Goes on Tour reached the finals in three competitions. I knew I was close, but it wasn’t quite right for the editors or agents at the time.

Then the Romance Writers of Australia annual conference came up. They were doing a panel called Survivor: Submission Island and were requesting submissions for it. Basically they had two agents and four editors on a panel and the first three pages of a manuscript were read to them (Eleni: entries were anonymous). When the panel would have stopped reading, they held up a stop sign. If they liked the manuscript they could request it.

I thought it was a fantastic opportunity, if not highly scary. My manuscript was going to be read out to a room full of people and then critiqued by six influential people in the industry. What if they hated it?

In the end I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss and there was a chance that my manuscript wouldn’t get read at all, so I sent it in.

When the time came for the panel, I was on the edge of my seat each time a new manuscript was read. I could only breathe when I realised it wasn’t mine – until it really was mine. When Jennie said the next manuscript was titled What Goes on Tour I think my heart must have stopped. I had a moment when I wanted to close my eyes and pretend I wasn’t there. I tried to tune Jennie’s voice out (your novel sounds so different being read aloud than it does when you read it in your head) and instead watched the panellists. They weren’t rolling their eyes or doodling on a notepad so that was a good sign.
In the end I got four requests and Joel Naoum at Momentum was one of them. I don’t think I stopped smiling all day.

After the conference I dutifully sent it off and two months later Joel sent me an email saying he wanted to publish it. I think I screamed the neighbourhood down – it was a good thing he hadn’t called me, otherwise I may have deafened him.

So if you’re trying to get published I can highly recommend entering competitions as a way to go, but with two qualifiers.

1.Make sure the final judges are people who will actually be interested in your novel – don’t send an erotic romance to a competition where the judge is looking for inspirational romance.
2.You need to be ready to receive criticism about your manuscript. If one negative word is enough to stop you writing, then you’re not ready for competitions.

When you do receive the criticism don’t take it to heart. It’s just one person’s opinion. My general method for reading the feedback is to read it, rant to myself that they obviously don’t know what they are talking about and put it aside for a week. Then I’ll go back to the comments and go through them and ask myself as objectively as I can, is the person right? Sometimes they are, and I’ll tweak the story to make it stronger but sometimes they’re not. Take what you can from the feedback and discard the rest. Competitions are meant to help not hinder.

So after a very short four months, I’m thrilled to announce that my first novel, What Goes on Tour was released by Momentum Moonlight on the 11th February 2014.

What goes on tour, stays on tour or does it?

Few people know that socially awkward Adrian Hart is actually rock god Kent Downer, and that’s the way Adrian likes it. His privacy is essential, especially now that he has guardianship of his orphaned, ten-year-old niece, Kate. But when the nanny quits in the middle of his tour Adrian finds himself in a bind.

Until Libby Myles walks into his life.

Libby has only ever wanted to become a full-time author and prove to her parents that she can make it on her own. On the surface, the temporary job as the nanny for Kent Downer’s niece looks perfect the pay is fabulous, the hours are short and Kate is a big fan it’s the rock star that’s the issue.

Arrogant and way too attractive for anyone’s good, Kent Downer has enough swagger to power a small city. But when he’s out of costume he’s different shy and uncertain. For Libby it’s a far harder combination to resist. She needs to find a balance between work, writing and ignoring her attraction to the rock star, because if she falls for him, it could mean the end of her dream.

But when a horrible scandal is unleashed putting young Kate in danger there’s more heat between Libby and Adrian than just sexual attraction. Libby must figure out if Adrian ever cared for her, or if it was all just part of the show

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

It is my pleasure to welcome Maggie Mundy with her bookHidden Mortalityfor today's A Bite Of....

Can you, in less than five words describe your book Hidden Mortality?
Immortals, Sensuous, Cooking, Supernatural and Witches

Who would you get to play your hero in a movie?
Seth Scanlon.
He was made immortal to avenge his lover’s death. Nearly two hundred years later he has to choose between staying with the woman he loves now, or killing the man he has been chasing for so long. Love a tortured hero. Especially when they are six foot musclebound with a shaved head and slate grey eyes that make you melt. I have always seen him as a cross between Vin Diesel and Kelly Slater...

What inspired you to write it?
The story is based around Bath and Bristol where I grew up. I always felt they were beautiful cities but had a bit of a sinister side as well. I tried to explore that in this book. My Pinterest page has pictures of the localities where the book was situated.

And here's the snippet!

Cara kept searching but couldn’t find the book she wanted. The assistant at the empty counter smiled politely as she approached.

“I’m looking for a book called Immortality and Witchcraft, Fact or Fiction,” Cara said.

The woman typed the title into her computer. As Cara waited, someone walked up to the other counter beside her. She turned to look. Her world stopped as she met the slate grey gaze of the man staring straight at her. This wasn’t possible. He couldn’t exist. He was just a dream lover. Yet there he was, standing next to her as big as life.

She tried to smile, but it probably came out as more of a grin. He didn’t smile back. Her legs turned to jelly. If she didn’t breathe, she would pass out. She reached out and gripped the counter. One of them had to look away but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Someone was talking to her and the moment was broken.

“Excuse me.”
“Sorry.” Cara replied, as she forced herself to look at the salesperson. She was afraid if she glanced back, he would be gone. Her imagination must be playing tricks on her.

“It looks like we should have one copy left,” the woman said.

“I think I’m just about to sell it,” the other shop assistant said coming up to the register. “We could order it in for you. It might take a couple of weeks.”

“Please, take my copy.” The man at the other counter held out the book. His voice was deep, exactly as it was in her dreams. She was caught again in his gaze. The world disappeared and for a moment they were the only two people alive locked in the gaze they shared. Her hand went to her chest. She could feel her heart racing at the thought of him being near.

“Thank you, but no I couldn’t. You had the book first.”

“Please, take it. I have plenty of time to wait for another copy to come in.”

She found it hard to say no. Perhaps, it was the fact he was about six three and wore grey bike leathers. They added to the effect of making him look powerful. The shaved head and the stubble on his face gave a menacing look, but she wasn’t afraid of him. This wasn’t right. Her life was wild enough without dream lovers becoming real.

Plus, she wouldn’t want her other dreams to become real as well. She needed to say something, or he would think she was an idiot standing there with her mouth gaping. He held the book out to her. As she took it, her hand touched his. It was such a tiny touch and yet it meant he was real. She felt the heat rising up her neck as she blushed. She also sensed another heat inside her. It was the same way he had made her feel in her dreams.

“Thanks.” Cara paid for her book and listened as he confirmed his contact details. Seth Scanlon. She had a name. She wasn’t really stalking. Taking another book off a shelf, she flipped through the pages. He glanced her way before he left and caught her gaze once more.

She couldn’t fool herself. The look he gave her was so intense she felt he was seeing inside her soul. Her breath caught. She shivered although the shop was warm. For a split second, she considered following him and saying he must remember all the times they had made love.

She could just imagine the expression he would give her. He didn’t know her. She was a stranger. The shop became suffocating as she pulled at the collar of her jumper. She needed to be outside. There was no sign of him on the street. For a moment, she wanted to cry. At this rate, she would give the silly schoolgirls in the shop a run for their money.

Thank you for sharing with us today Maggie!

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